Tips for avoiding home workout injuries.
INJURIES CAN HAPPEN WITHOUT THE EYE OF A FITNESS PRO
Like many active Canadians with no access to the local fitness club, you’ve probably tried an online workout or set up your own makeshift gym. Not only are both options viable for anyone trying to maintain a workout routine, they provide an opportunity to try new exercises. But without the watchful eye of a fitness professional to check your form, technique can suffer. At best, poor execution leads to diminished results. At worst, you’ll find yourself nursing an injury — which, with sport medicine clinics shut down, can mean an abrupt end to your home workout routine.
To help keep your technique on point, here are step- by- step how- tos for some of the more popular exercises used in homebased workouts. Film yourself doing each exercise and compare your form to the photos (where applicable) and directions. Then move a full- length mirror to your workout space and use it to double-check your technique during a workout.
Lunge
Start position: Stand tall with feet hip- width apart. Hold a weight in each hand (optional) or slide a weighted backpack over your shoulders.
Action: Step one leg back, keeping the foot in line with the same- side hip. The core remains strong and upper body quiet. Lower the hips in a straight line until the front knee is bent to 90 degrees. The knee of the back leg should touch or almost touch the ground. Return the back leg to the start position. Repeat, stepping back with the other leg.
Easier: Lower and raise the hips without returning the back leg to the start position.
Tips: Keep your ears and shoulders lined up over the hips as the body lowers toward the floor.
Don’t: Let your forward knee drift toward your midline as it bends or let your upper body drift forward.
Burpee
Start position: Stand tall with feet shoulder- width apart.
Action: Bend the knees, lower the hips and place both hands on the floor, kicking both legs out behind until they are fully extended. As the legs are straightening, lower the chest to the floor. Push off the floor, straightening the arms, and hop both feet under the hips. Jump up to the start position.
Easier: Don’t lower the chest to the floor as the legs kick out behind the hips. Walk, don’t hop, the feet out and back.
Harder: Get some air under your feet as you hop from the floor to a standing position.
Don’t: Lead with the chest as you push off the floor.
Pushup
Start position: Place both hands on the floor, shoulder- width apart, arms fully extended. Balance on the toes with both legs straight, feet just wider than the hips.
Action: Lower the torso toward the floor, keeping the head, shoulders, hips and heels in a straight line, until the chest is hovering over the floor ( elbows bent at 90 degrees). Push back up to the start position.
Easier: From the start position, balance on the knees, not the toes. Elevate the hands on a couch, bottom step or curb.
Harder: Start with the chest on the floor. Elevate the feet on a couch, bottom step or curb. Bring your hands closer together.
Tips: Exhale as you push back up to the start position.
Don’t: Break the body’s alignment by lifting the hips or letting the belly sag as you push off the floor.
Kettlebell swing
Start position: Stand tall, holding the kettlebell in both hands and resting it in front of the thighs, legs shoulder-distance apart.
Action: Bend from the hips and lower the upper body, swinging the kettlebell through the legs until the wrists scrape the inner thighs. Drive the hips forward, pushing from the heels, and swing the kettlebell to chest height, keeping the arms straight. The upper body follows the arc of the kettlebell until the body is standing tall back in the start position.
Easier: Choose a lighter kettlebell. Raise the kettlebell to the bottom of the rib cage.
Harder: Choose a heavier kettlebell. Swing the kettlebell with one arm.
Tips: Use the hamstrings and buttocks to thrust the hips forward and swing the kettlebell into its upward arc.
Don’t: Curl the back and roll the shoulders inward as the kettlebell moves in its downward arc or use the upper body to lift.